Microsoft Demos 3D Printing with Windows 8.1
This week during the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago, Microsoft senior program manager Jesse McGatha expanded on the company’s previous announcement that Windows 8.1 would support 3D printing. The company said at the end of June that plug-and-play support for 3D printing would transform how consumers create just like how desktop publishing transformed the way everyone wrote. If anything, the company will be ready for a market that will supposedly reach $3.1 billion by 2016.
Sounds easy?
Unfortunately, the release of Windows 8.1 won’t mean a sudden explosion of 3D printing despite Microsoft’s attempts to make it extremely easy. Prices of 3D printers are beginning to drop, but the roadblock will be the consumers’ need to learn CAD or 3D design software. Unless there’s a solution developed to make design easier and on-the-fly, many consumers may never use a 3D printer.